Birmingham, United Kingdom — At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Wyclife Kinyamal beat the then defending champion Nijel Amos to rack up his first major gold medal.
This was incidentally Kenya’s first gold medal of the 2018 edition of the Club Games where his compatriots were yet to bag any of the long and middle distance medals.
Four years later, this time in Birmingham, Kinyamal, who finished 8th at the Oregon World Athletics Championships, eclipsed Peter Bol from Australia and Ben Patterson from England to an exhilarating podium dash.
Now the Kenyan athlete believes he still has the potential to seal the hat-trick of wins at the 2026 Commonwealth Games scheduled for Australia, Victoria.
Speaking soon after the 800 meters final at the Alexander Stadium, Kinyamal said: “I tried to control the race so that I could conserve a bit more energy to push me forward. The Birmingham gold means a lot to me, such a great feeling.”
“As you may all be aware, defending a title is not an easy thing but I thank God for defending it after the Oregon debacle. I wasn’t in low spirits in any way after Oregon where I came 8th.”
“In fact, I put my Oregon woes behind me and immediately started focusing on my Commonwealth defense which came to fruition. I will now be attempting the rare hat-trick in 2026 God Willing.”
Kinyamal will be 29 years old when the Club Games takes place and he believes the hat-trick is possible with heavy training, discipline and level-headedness.
Meanwhile, Kinyamal has dedicated his 800meters gold to his 4-year old son.
Past Commonwealth Games -800m gold medalists
1970 Robert Ouko (KEN) 1:46.89
1974 John Kipkurgat (KEN
1978 Mike Boit (KEN) 1:46.39
1982 Peter Bourke (AUS) 1:45.18
1986 Steve Cram (ENG) 1:43.22
1990 Sammy Tirop (KEN) 1:45.98
1994 Patrick Konchellah (KEN) 1:45.18
1998 Japheth Kimutai (KEN) 1:43.82
2002 Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (RSA) 1:46.32
2006 Alex Kipchirchir (KEN) 1:45.88
2010 Boaz Kiplagat Lalang (KEN) 1:46.60
2014 Nijel Amos (BOT) 1:45.18
2018 Wyclife Kinyamal (KEN) 1:45.11
2022 Wyclife Kinyamal (KEN) 1:47.52
-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Birmingham, United Kingdom-